The National Highway Traffic Safety Adminstration last week opened an engineering analysis on 2005 to 2008 models of the popular police vehicle, following up on a preliminary investigation into more than a dozen complaints and warranty claims identified by regulators and Ford.

Regulators are looking at incidents where the upper and lower steering column shafts may have separated, especially after a frontal impact, resulting in a loss of steering control.

NHTSA’s Office of Defect Investigvation also looked at data for the same model years on civilian market Crown Victorias and Grand Marquis from model years 2009-2011, which use similar steering columns. Five incidents where steering columns may have separated were identified.

Meanwhile, regulators said they identified a total of 42 reports where the lower steering column became displaced, but without it leading to a complete separation.

The preliminary investigation was announced in September 2012. No recall has been ordered yet.